The Michigan Lottery posted a new website on Wednesday, but shortly thereafter replaced it with the prior site. According to Jeff Holyfield of the Michigan Lottery who was quoted in an article in yesterday’s Crain’s Detroit Business, users experienced slowdowns after the change-over from the old site. "We were getting calls, emails ... from players saying the website wasn't responding well," he said.

The Michigan Lottery sent an email message to customers Wednesday afternoon:

“Early today we launched a new website. Unfortunately, the new website did not meet your expectations or ours. While we work to provide you with a new site that meets your expectations, we have gone back to the previous version of our site for you to use. We apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused, and appreciate your patience while we work to bring you a website that you deserve.”

According to the Crain’s article, the Michigan Lottery is shifting from the contractor that previously ran its site, HelloWorld, to Interaction Gaming LLC for its new site.

When it ultimately is launched, the updated site concept will be mobile-first, because Michigan Lottery is seeing a growing number of users logging on from their smartphones and other mobile devices, Holyfield told Crain’s. It's simpler with improved functionality, he added.